Samsung announces pricing for Android-based Galaxy NX camera

As the first hybrid smartphone and interchangeable lens camera, the Samsung Galaxy NX certainly cut a unique profile when we first looked at it in June of this year. The Galaxy NX merges the features of Samsung smartphones, including a huge 4.8-inch touch LCD and 3G/4G/Wi-Fi connectivity, with a NX-mount ILC with a 20.3MP APS-C sensor, hybrid AF system, and 8.6 fps burst mode. At long last, the Galaxy NX has been given a price: $1,599.99 body only, or $1,699.99 bundled with an 18-55mm lens, with an expected October shipping date.

Unlike the original Galaxy Camera, the Galaxy Camera NX will sell through regular retail channels, rather than through cellular carriers. According to Samsung USA representatives, customers should be able to buy the camera and insert a SIM card from select carriers of their choice (which carriers will support the camera in which countries was unclear at press time).

Samsung brings its Android camera concept to the NX series with the Galaxy NX.

Press Release:

Highly Anticipated Samsung Galaxy NX Camera Available in the US in Time for Holiday Shopping

First Interchangeable-Lens Camera with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Available in October Starting at $1,599.99

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. – August 29, 2013 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced pricing for the GALAXY NX SMART camera; the first connected Compact System Camera (CSC). The GALAXY NX will be available $1,599.99 (body-only) or $1,699.99 (bundled with an 18-55mm lens) and will be available in U.S. stores in October, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Adaptable and simple to use, the GALAXY NX combines cutting edge optical performance with connectivity capabilities and a variety of applications based on the Android eco-system, all in one stylish package.

“Photographers today live mobile lifestyles and they demand tools that allow them to share their work – in stunning detail – instantly,” said Ron Gazzola, Vice President of Marketing for Digital Imaging. “The GALAXY NX camera represents the pinnacle of technology convergence in our 2013 SMART camera line, successfully marrying the benefits of our GALAXY Camera with the imaging prowess of the award-winning NX interchangeable lens SMART cameras.”

Android Integration

Powered by the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system, the GALAXY NX offers a professional-level photographic experience with the simplicity and familiarity of a smartphone. Users can choose from a variety of Android apps to help personalize their GALAXY NX and do more than just shoot amazing photographs and video - from editing images to adding special effects to staying in touch with friends and family.

The flexibility offered by the GALAXY NX’s selection of Interchangeable Lenses places creative control firmly in the hands of the photographer, opening up a world of imaging possibilities, whatever the scenario. From compact pancake lenses and an ultra-wide fisheye, to exquisite longer prime and zoom lenses, the extensive optics portfolio helps users create images that are truly special.

Smarter SMART Features

The GALAXY NX is teeming with options to capture life’s memorable moments. Photo Suggest provides location-based recommendations of popular photography spots, sourced from a huge library of images taken by fellow photographers across the world. Story Album lets users relive memories by displaying special moments on one timeline, reframing and resizing them to create digital photo books that can be viewed and shared on other devices.

The GALAXY NX boasts more than 30 Smart Modes, allowing users to select the optimum settings for almost any scenario, as well as create fresh, artistic images. ‘Multi Exposure’ merges two different shots together to produce one distinctive image, while ‘Animated Photo’ connects continuous shots of up to five seconds, creating a moving GIF file. For added realism, ‘Sound & Shot’ stores sound and voice together as the picture is taken, so moments are captured exactly as they happened.

For added personalization, Camera Studio allows users to easily customize settings with their most frequently used applications or camera modes, making sure their photos are captured exactly as desired every time.

Pricing & Availability

The GALAXY NX will be available at www.samsung.com and authorized Samsung retailers in October for $1,599.99 (body-only) or $1,699.99 (bundled with an 18-55mm lens). For more information on the Wi-Fi version of the Samsung GALAXY Camera and the full line of Samsung digital cameras, lenses and accessories, please visit www.samsung.com.

I personally think stylus is essential to write a memorable moments decorates the photos.2nd front camera is needed as a substitues of voice calls by skype. 3rd Ample screen is needed for photo editting then what is the use of android then!4rd photos looks better on samoled449 ppi screen than lcd otherwise it looks inferior to competitors that has a better screen n worse photo. 5th professional photographers knows what is best for them DSLR not mirrorless!

It is a pity that it has no full hd (449 ppi)super amoled to portrayed the good captured pictured. The lcd screen looks dull n pale like the one in galaxy camera. Just wait for the s amoled ones.2nd should have been DSLR type android camera. Mirrorless camera does not performs as good as dslr type. 3rd it has no stylus n front camera. 4rd the screen is too small for video editting like the one one galaxy camera. It should be at least 5.5 inch at least like the one on note 2.

Typical Samsung's approach:"Forget the R&D - if we cannot copy this time, lets just throw a bunch of cool technologies we have into the one device and see what happens. Oh, and don't forget to charge a premium for that!"

Typically Samsung. They sell all their stuff at double price. I get today the Galaxy tablet clone for less than half the price, looks the same, has same board inside, same OS and same body. Now an android tablet camera at triple price than the normal. So, seen, booked and scratched from my mind. No thanks, you're jokin' Samsung.

All future SLRs should have WLAN and cellphone connectivity, GPS, and the ability to install apps. A serious camera should have separate buttons and wheels for all important functions however, and not a touchscreen interface.

The additional connectivity, and the GPS, would be very useful for journalists.

Apps could be very useful for special tasks like animal photography. An app could release the shutter if something new appears in the frame. The camera could be remote controlled, or it could be remotely checked if there are interesting photographs on the camera.

I would like to have a map app on my camera for hiking. Additionally such a camera could be used as a phone for emergencies. As batteries for SLRs can potentially be fairly big, such a device could run for very long on a single battery.

Are DSLR batteries durable enough to power a laptop for 12 hours? You see my current Samsung NX 100 lasts for a couple of days–even with the camera in standby; that’s not turning it off.

And when you turn this Android NX camera off completely to save batteries, will it restart fully in 3 seconds like a decent digital camera?

There’s nothing particularly wrong with a networked camera; they already exist. However if that network+computer capacity+no physical buttons severely impedes the use of the camera as a camera (already known to be the case in the other Samsung Android camera) and the price is exorbitant what’s the point?

Adding software features to this camera indeed seems like a promising idea, but it’s not clear how much of that is allowed. For example could someone write an application for download from GooglePlay which entirely reworked every control and camera feature? (Or would that have to be done through deeper access to the OS?)

I can live without the microwave smog. My pictures went to my computer in time with the usb connection. Usb3 would make it faster, just ask myself why they keep usb2 up in cameras. I just hope that i can switch that wi-fi crap off in those cameras, if not, they can keep them.

Samsung have lost the plot. Surely with so many complaining about the human factors issues with (some of) the otherwise superb Sony NEX cameras, Samsung would have realised that people want tactile controls. Only Panasonic appear to get it when it comes to balancing touch screens and tactile controls, such as in the GH2, GH3, G5, GX7 etc.

Not to mention the price!

A great opportunity missed. What they should have done was taken the ergonomically superb NX20 + articulating display, improved the IQ (see reviews) and added Android. (I tried the NX20 and it felt great in the hand and the articulating display produced great images.)

Unlike Sony and the Nex system, Samsung sure got the idea of shipping good lenses for the NX system.

No Samsung should not have added Android to the NX20, Samsung should introduce the NX30. The NX20, shooting raw, already has excellent image quality, it just needs a faster buffer and a quickly readable PASM dial.

1. Imagine shooting at bright daylight... Where the hell is the EV button!.. ahhh Glare!2. Inside the theater... damn that LCD is so bright, oh wait ill use the view finder, dam how can i set my exposure!?!There must be a SMARTER way to have control buttons and have an android base camera which is ergonomically appealing. ill be using it for 3 days and resell it on ebay for $400. Im not that stupid to pay $1600 with a kit lens. I can get a used RX1 or XPro1 and an EYE-FI card for less in the coming months.

Once your eye is stuck to the viewfinder, I am wondering how you can change parameters on the fly with virtually no buttons... With the i-function button and the upper dial ? And when using a manual or non-Samsung lens ?And this quad-core monster is power-hungry certainly...

What I would need is a phone that accepts an SD card so I can easily upload pictures to the web, also able to compress it to a smaller size, without destroying the original. There are plenty of photo editing apps. Should not cost that much. I already have a camera.I prefer to photograph with a camera and use a phone/tablet for Internet connection.

I agree, but you don't need the phone to take SD cards...almost all new cameras have WiFi built in, which allows you to very easily transfer images to your phone or tablet. I use an OM-D, Panasonic GX1, Fuji X-E1 and Fuji X-M1, and I find myself bringing the X-M1 out a lot simply because it has WiFi (well, image quality is fantastic too)...get a good shot, ship it over to my phone and upload to Facebook. Works great!

People need to remember that an android phone like a Galaxy S4 is actually around $650, you pay for it monthly in your data plan. This camera is basically a a smart phone merged with camera hardware, it is understandable it is expensive. It's far more powerful computing device than any other camera on the market, but will it sell? I would have preferred $1200 or so.

To start something new, one might need to sustain some losses. Consumer electronics is full of the examples: DVD playes, DVRs, BlueRay/HD-DVD, video consoles - in the beginning, many were sold at loss just to help create and expand the market.

"It's far more powerful computing device than any other camera on the market [...]"

And what is the point of being so powerful, if the Android developers would be turned off by the price? Apps don't write themselves - you need a third party for that. And there should be something for the third party in it too.

While expensive, this is an exciting camera. With programs like snapseed you dont have to bring a large portion of your photography into a computer and can directly attach to emails and upload to clients.... Maintain up to the minute imagery for your blog, or website, share high quality images on the fly just like you would form your phone but with immeasurably more flexibility and quality.

Next stop Samsung? Design an app for this phone to process your raw files. KABOOM! How cool wold that be. Just a note, they could be reduced size raws for this specific purpose.

In principle, you are right. But I doubt that there is much need for a device like this.Bloggers and social network afficionados do not need 20 MP images for web use.Professionals who want to upload quickly high quality press, sports or paparazzi images would prefer a much higher specced camera system.The remaining part of photographers, where this concept fits best, seems to be a very small percentage...

Leaks are one thing, announcements are another, and products delivered are yet another thing. NX-R was leaked in the same way, October 2012. http://photorumors.com/2012/10/01/nx-r-and-nx300-mirrorless-camera-entries-leak-on-samsungs-website/

Am I seeing things upside down?Personaly I wouldn't buy this camera for the listed price only to have the possibility of using Android Apps to treat photos and upload them through the UMTS network.I'd rather see Samsung and others develop a comm module to be connected to their lineup of cameras.With ease a comm bus can be inserted in a camera that will allow it to communicate with such module in order to upload the desired photos. Creative software may easily be embedded in the camera or downloaded via a proprietary or free synchronising tool.This is the kind of solution I'd applaud for professionals working in the field...

Seems like this is already in place. Many of the new cameras have wifi (built in or a wifi SD card) or NFC to allow getting the photos onto your phone or other external device. I much prefer that method, though you give up some of the more creative things one might do with apps on a phone when it comes to actually taking the photos...

I'm an NX user myself (along with Canon and Sony gear) and if this is any indication of the future of Samsung's pricing for the NX system... well, I'm afraid that the whole system will lose it's appeal. The NX gear so far - camera bodies like the NX20 and NX300 and just about all of the NX lenses are reasonably priced and very high quality.

Now /this/ product is just the opposite - an overpriced niche product. Like previously mentioned - had it been priced around $800-900, it would have made more sense and wouldn't have been DOA.